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PALO ALTO (CBS/AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has used his platform as Stanford University’s commencement speaker to lobby for an immigration reform plan that allows foreign students to remain in the U.S. after they graduate.

Speaking at a packed Stanford Stadium on Sunday, Bloomberg noted that about 30 percent of the university’s 5,000 graduates had attended Stanford on student visas, but that many of them without a way to work legally here would return to their home countries to compete with American companies.

That’s “the most backward policy you could come up,” the mayor said, adding that every student who studied science, technology, math or engineering “should have a green card stapled to their diploma.”

He urged the audience to contact their representatives and senators about the immigration bill now under debate in Congress.

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